Tubes

Okay, it seems that we are quite serious about going to the beach again. 2 days after our last trip to PD, Rach and I were at Tesco and we thought we'd better get at least 2 floating tubes for the kids.

We got the green and orange ones first. I went home and inflate the orange one to check the size and to see how sturdy it was. Looks good. :)

Then two days ago, we found ourselves at Tesco again. We thought "ahhh must as well get the blue one and a beach ball".

You know, this is the 2nd set of tubes and ball we bought. Two years ago, we bought 2 tubes and a ball. We used them for at least 2 times. Then they went missing. Hmmmm. :)

He Will Carry You

Here's a song I find comforting whenever I face trials and difficulties in life.

Title : He Will Cary You

Song Writer : Scott Wesley Brown

There is no problem too big
God cannot solve it
There is no mountain too tall
He cannot move it
There is not storm too dark
God cannot calm it
There is no sorrow too deep
He cannot soothe it

If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders
I know, my brother that He will carry you
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders
I know, my sister that He will carry you

He said come on to me all who are weary
And I will give you rest

All the way from Switzerland

Last week I received an unexpected parcel from a Finnish friend. Okay, it was expected, but I forgot all about it. Let me tell you why I said that. You see, this friend sent a message through FB saying that

he is leaving Switzerland behind (if I can find the airport...)

Now I couldn't let him go back to his country without getting me a souvenir from Switzerland could I? So I made a comment asking if he did buy me a fridge magnet. He replied some 5 minutes later :

What, did I promise such!!! Lets see if I can find one...

2 1/2 weeks later I received this -

The packaging looks interesting. :)


I like the postcard too. :)

And the cuckoo clock.. haha.. from the picture it looks like a cuckoo clock. I went as near as possible to take this picture. Now, look closely again and you'll notice that it's not a clock after all but a fridge magnet :). Press the red button on the top left side and you'll hear the cuckoo calling.

I love these kind of surprises. Thank you my Finnish friend. :)

Shifting house

No, not I. My cousin planned to shift house today. I went over to help her pack but when I reached her place, there wasn't much I could do. My parents and Aunt Chris were there since 8.30AM. I may have come a little too late (1pm) and there were things to do but I couldn't help much because my cousin wanted to know exactly what goes into which box and it was best that she do it alone. I must say, I was really amazed at how organized and efficient my cousin was. We could only help her by wrapping all the glassware with newspapers, tying the boxes with raffia strings, folding all the bedsheets, blankets and putting them outside the living hall.

We couldn't shift the big items today because the lorry was too small. We needed at least a 3 ton lorry. We could have gone a few rounds but the lorry came late. It was supposed to come at 5.30 pm, but came only at 7pm. Furthermore, they were charging RM120 per trip... within the same garden. Ridiculous isn't it?

So tomorrow, they are going to engage another lorry. Hopefully she is able to shift everything by tomorrow.

Belalang

Spotted a belalang (grasshopper) in my house compound. I zoomed and managed to capture this pose before it hopped away. Can't believe that in certain parts of the world, people eat this as a delicacy!!

How did the car get there?

Spotted a car near the Lake Gardens pond last Saturday. Many people were speculating on how the car landed itself there. One of the street lights at the Lake Gardens was knocked down and the grass was littered with a broken side mirror and some parts of the car. What do you think had happened? The actual story can only be answered by the driver.

Dead

Mctc's sister and family from Australia is here for 2 weeks. As usual, they will stay in the younger sister's house and as for transportwise, this year Mctc's gonna lend them his 14 year old Proton Wira and he will use my mom's car.

After 3 days of casual driving, Mctc's car power steering had some problem. Thank God they weren't planning to go outstation that day. I understand that this was a rare problem.. I mean... whoever has experienced a power steering wheel that refuse to turn??!

So anyway, the car had to be towed to the mechanic. Later he found out that the gearbox had to be changed too... This is another rare car problem. It's not even an auto car!!!

According to BW, Mctc's brother-in-law(sister's husband), he said that the car is dead and Mctc should think of getting a new one. Apparently, his version of dead is "when the maintenance becomes too costly". Mctc's version of dead is...... when the car finally breathes it's final breath". As long as the car can start, it is not dead.

Mctc told me the 2 versions of dead... and I concluded...

BW version of dead means.. the car have to be sold quickly in order to avoid heavy maintenance. Mctc's version of dead means... the car is in critical condition stage, like in the ICU, I said, in between dead and burial. Much maintenance is needed to revive the car's engine.

Sigh...

Obedience

A mother was about to take up leadership position for a bible study group when she found out that her 6 year old son had problems adapting to the school system. Torn between wanting to serve and her duty as a mother to spend more time with her son, she stumbled upon this verse taken from Matthew 6 :33 - "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. "

" All these things" here meant the cause of our worries, our needs. The Word of God became "Rhema" (The Word of God for her) to her and she made the decision to obey God and said yes to head the bible study group. The week after her decision, the teacher of her son spoke to her and told her that her boy was so different now, so easy to get along with his peer group. The teacher asked what did she(the mother) do that changed her son, and she replied.. "nothing"

But you know what? She did something. She obeyed God, she put God first and God took care of her situation. :)

Note : Picture taken from here.

Home Grown Guava

This is a how a guava tree looked like. Spotted it in front of Jian's house. So now you know where to get guavas. Which reminds me... I do have a mango tree but it's not bearing any fruit.

It did bear some last year, but it dropped before it ripened. MY good neighbours helped me to trim the tree every now and then.

My neighbour planted a papaya tree in her house and recently she gave me one of it's fruit. Not so sweet, but who's complaining. It's free. :)

And if you want to eat rambutans, just be extra nice to RW. :). This a picture of the rambutan tree after the season. They chopped down some of the branches because it was getting too big.

One of these days I must go round and take pictures of all the Malaysian fruits and how it's fruit tree look like. A project I most likely would procrastinate. :).. Ah.. well...

Fairy Park...guess what it is?

Today, they cremated Aunt Mary's mortal body. Many came and some took time off to attend the service. Again, there were more than a hundred friends and relatives who came for this service. They even hired a bus to take some of the people to the crematory.

The crematory was held in Fairy Park, Sendayan, a fairly new cemetery, judging from the empty burial plots.

This is the entrance to Fairy Park.

Buddha statues all lined up to greet you.

This is the crematory. It's fully air-conded, so unlike if a person were to be buried, especially under the hot sun. I thought of bringing a hat, but since it's going to be cremated, I thought.. ai yah... no need lah.

So many people came for the burial (cremation) service and witness the coffin going in the furnace. Bro Chow was calm throughout the whole funeral.

Later we had lunch at Wing Heong Restaurant in Loop Road provided by the family.

This whole week belongs to Aunt Mary. She passed away on Sunday, and was cremated today, Thursday. I must say this of her... she was always smiling, always wanting to help others despite of her 73 years of age, a truly wonderful and capable woman who was not afraid of anything, who knew that God was ALWAYS with her and no one can convinced her otherwise.

She died so suddenly without warning. Life is so short. We never know when we will be called back.

I asked a few people this question.. "When you die, do you prefer to be buried or cremated?"
I would very much like to be buried, but if it's too expensive or troublesome, I don't mind being cremated too.

Today

Today is the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics 2008.
Today, Su-Ann will be celebrating her 21st birthday.
Today, Aunt Mary Chow passed away.

It was so sudden.
She had a heart attack.
It happened in church at about 8.40am or so just before the service start.
She felt the pain coming from her head, then shoulders and arms.. and she fainted.. or so we thought.
They called for an ambulance.
Ambulance came 20 minutes later.... too late to save her.

She was a dear lady, loved by all, and even though she is more than 70 years old she was very eager to serve. In fact, she was suppose to go to the Semenyih outreach later.

Less than a week ago, she was telling one of the church members that if death were to come knocking on her door, she wants it to be quick. No suffering, no lingering death. She got her wish.

Life is short. Do what you can for God and do your best.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the truth. 2 Timothy 2 :15

Somebody just turned 21...

Yup... Su-Ann just turned 21. All relatives and close friends were invited. There were about 50-60 of us.

A visitor

Spotted this bird perching on a pipe at the back of my house calling out to his friend.

Home grown pineapples

These are pineapples... in case you don't know. I admit, I didn't know until Min Chee pointed it out to me. I was like, what is it doing in a residential area, especially where there were no open spaces to grow them?!! I saw a pineapple plantation near my house from afar. It was planted near the chinese temple. I wonder if they grow them for sacrifices?!

National Flower

I found these bunga raya growing in STM. Lots of it looking big and happy. Pretty huh? :)

Cookies anyone?

Look what my cousin got for his staff? The staff requested for cookies and he obediently bought cookies for them.

Moving house

Yes, they had a hard time packing all their barang (stuff). My parents bought a new house, next to my sister's house. They were in no hurry to move, but if they didn't set the date, they will never move. Too many things to pack. Aunty Chris helped for a few nights. I was there most of the time too.

My father did most of the painting. I helped too... I think I did five walls and some miscellaneous painting.

The new house looked so clean and tidy... unlike the old house.